“If indeed the socialist commonwealth were an impossibility, then mankind would be cut off from all further economic development. In that event modern society would decay, as did the Roman empire nearly two thousand years ago, and finally relapse into barbarism.

“As things stand today capitalist civilization cannot continue; we must either move forward into socialism or fall back into barbarism.”:rosa:

Born in southeastern Poland on 5 March 1871, Rosa Luxemburg was a towering figure of the classical socialist movement— a brilliant thinker, sharp-tongued rhetorician, and trailblazing leader of the proletarian cause. The famed socialist historian and journalist Franz Mehring once called her the “best brain after Marx”. Her comrade and dear friend Clara Zetkin described her as the “sharp sword, the living flame of revolution”. Even Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, with whom she often clashed, was compelled to acknowledge her status as an “eagle” of the Communist movement, at least in retrospect.

“Democracy is indispensable to the working class, because only through the exercise of its democratic rights, in the struggle for democracy, can the proletariat become aware of its class interests and its historic task.”:rosa:

She was, by all accounts, a truly unique figure. A Jew, a Polish woman, physically disabled and politically an irreconcilable Marxist—the obstacles to her pursuing her aims in life were legion, yet she rose to become one of the paramount leaders of the largest and strongest socialist movement in the Western world, German Social Democracy. In her short but brilliant career, she locked horns with the Prussian military elite several times and spoke as equals with Karl Kautsky, August Bebel, Victor Adler, and many other leading lights of socialism. As a political agitator she rallied masses of workers against capitalism and imperialist warfare, while also challenging Marxist orthodoxy as both a theorist and instructor at the Social Democratic party school in Berlin.

Yet since being cut down by proto-fascist thugs in January 1919, Luxemburg has been memorialized as a martyr for the revolution and a symbol of the tragic highs and lows of Germany’s twentieth century more than anything else. While her name and image remains iconic, her prodigious intellectual output and many contributions to socialist theory, have often been reduced to footnotes.

“Freedom only for the members of the government, only for the members of the Party – though they are quite numerous – is no freedom at all. Freedom is always the freedom of the one who thinks differently. Not because of any fanatical concept of justice, but because all that is instructive, wholesome and purifying in political freedom depends on this essential characteristic, and its effectiveness vanishes when ‘freedom’ becomes a special privilege.”

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Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):

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Theory:

    • Alisu [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      5·
      8 months ago

      Unfortunately the vertical mouse does not help with carpal tunnel. But a wrist rest or gel mousepad can help. If you need a source, I found this article about it. It says these mice change wrist position but they do not help relieve pressure on the wrist, so it does not matter.

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
        5·
        8 months ago

        There are still a lot of questions to ask here. Cts is not the only repetitive stress injury that can result from computer use. There are avariety of different more or less radical ergomnomic keyboard and mouse layouts with, afaik, little or no actual research berformed. The layout of ergo mice differs radically between products.

        Afaik there hasn’t been anything like the degree of sytsemic study of computer use ergonomics that i’d expect for a major center of workplace and occupational injury.

        • Alisu [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
          1·
          8 months ago

          It’s really sad that we don’t even fucking know what effects the thing we are spending so much time doing have on our body. A lot of ergonomic things are branding and marketing, it’s pretty hard to know what is better than what, I’m imagining phones are even worse and there’s probably less information about it.

        • Alisu [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
          2·
          8 months ago

          Fair, and there’s more than just cts. And discomfort can come from many different things. Those mice really never felt comfortable to me, though, so I’d recommend trying one out instead of just buying, maybe it’s hard to get used to.

      • FumpyAer [any, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        3·
        8 months ago

        All I know is I can immediately feel my wrist straining to twist to a horizontal position at all, but a vertical position (palms inward, diagonal) is significantly more comfortable for me. And I have no repetitive strain injury.

        Also, the study claims ergonomic mouse devices don’t help CTS patients, that is, patients who already suffer from CTS. This does not rule out their ability to prevent CTS or other repetitive strain.

        Third point, the sample size is only 21 people, so IMO, that’s a somewhat weak study, although it does appear to be peer reviewed in a journal relevant to the topic, which is good.

        And last, there are at least 4 different wrist repetitive strain injuries that exist. Carpal tunnel is only the most well known.

        I’d like to see a long term study with a more significant population of non CTS sufferers in which they check if switching to ergonomic mice or adding a wrist rest for mouse usage earlier in life can lower the chance to develop CTS or repetitive wrist strain generally. I also wonder if mouse grip style affects anything (claw grip, etc).

        • Alisu [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
          2·
          8 months ago

          Honestly I didn’t really find much on the side of vertical mouse either so we kinda just don’t know. Only place that isn’t a brand (it’s hard to know what isn’t just marketing) was saying that it’s a matter of preference, but also I didn’t search too much (don’t really have the time). Would be good to see a longer study too, had not noticed the sample size, actually ridiculous.